Overhill Cherokee facts for kids
Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 18th-century European traders and explorers from British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as they had to cross the mountains to reach these settlements.
Situated along the lower Little Tennessee, lower Tellico, lower Hiwassee and upper Tennessee rivers, the Overhill towns rose to prominence within the Cherokee Nation in the early 18th century. They began to standardize trade with British colonists. In the early part of the century, the Overhill towns' remote location at the far end of the Trading Path meant they were reached only by those traders and explorers adventurous enough to make the difficult journey to the interior over the mountain range. By the middle of the century, the Overhill towns were consistently courted by both British and French emissaries, as the two powers struggled for the control of the North American continent and the lucrative fur trade.
During and following the American Revolutionary War, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the westward thrust of Euro-American settlement resulted in conflict and the decline of the Overhill towns. The Cherokee were forced to cede most of their lands in this area through a series of unfavorable treaties with the United States. For a time, they migrated to the south and west, deeper into Georgia and Alabama, and away from settler pressure.
The Overhill town of Chota, in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, was recognized as the de facto capital and mother town of the entire Cherokee Nation for most of the 18th century, when it was the major settlement. The town of Tanasi became the namesake for the state of Tennessee. Many prominent Cherokee leaders, including Attakullakulla, Oconastota, Nancy Ward, and Sequoyah, were born and raised in Overhill towns.
20th century to present
In the 1970s, most of the former Overhill sites were submerged by the impoundment of the Little Tennessee River after a dam was constructed in a major Tennessee Valley Authority project. Archaeologists conducted extensive excavations prior to this, during which they identified most of the Overhill towns and extracted thousands of artifacts, helping them develop volumes of invaluable information regarding the region's Cherokee and pre-Cherokee inhabitants. They learned that different cultures of indigenous peoples had lived along the river for 12,000 years.
Geography
The Overhill settlements were concentrated around three rivers at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains and the Unicoi Mountains, in what are now Monroe and Polk counties in Tennessee. The northernmost of these three rivers, the Little Tennessee, was the locus of a string of prominent Overhill settlements situated between modern-day Vonore and Calderwood Dam. Other important settlements were situated along the Hiwassee River south of modern Etowah, and along the Tellico River in modern Tellico Plains.
Although Native Americans used most of the western side of the Great Smoky Mountains primarily as a hunting ground, early Euro-American explorers recalled seeing abandoned villages and temporary hunting camps scattered around the region. These were often found in the game-rich coves of the northern part of the range and near the junctions of major streams.
Prominent Overhill Cherokee figures
- Moytoy of Tellico (c. 1687–1760) – headman at Great Tellico at the time of Cuming's visit
- Old Tassel (Onitositaii) (c. 1700–1788) — headman of Toqua
- Ostenaco (c. 1700–1780) – head chief, Tomotley, at the time of Timberlake's visit
- Attakullakulla (c.1710–1777) – born in Chota
- Oconastota (c. 1710–1783) – born and died in Chota
- Jacob the Conjurer (fl. ca. 1730) – in Great Tellico at the time of Cumming's visit
- Dragging Canoe (c. 1738–1792) – born in Chota, onetime headman of Great Island Town
- Nancy Ward (c. 1738–1824) – born in Chota
- John Watts (1753–1802) – nephew of Old Tassel, leader of the Chickamauga/Lower Cherokee after Dragging Canoe died in 1792.
- Moytoy of Citico (1759–1761) - began the Anglo-Cherokee War
- Sequoyah (c. 1767–1843) – born in Tuskegee
- Savanukah; participated in the 1776 offensive into the Washington District, North Carolina, served as headman of the Overhills 1780–1781.
- Abraham of Chilhowee (or Abram) (d. 1788) – led Cherokee assault against Fort Watauga in 1776
